Entering her fourth Season and in the eyes of society was approaching spinsterhood, Lady Miranda Hawthorne, the epitome of the perfect lady, feels like a puppet. She yearns to break the mold she has been forced into.

Reprimanded by her mother that a lady does not openly express her emotions, she pours her innermost feelings out not in a traditional diary but in never-to-be-sent letters to her brother’s old school friend, a duke.

Meanwhile, she also finds herself intrigued by Marlow, her ducal brother’s new valet. Although she may wish to break free of the social fetters that bind her, falling in love with a servant is more rebellion than she could perpetrate.

When Marlow, the dutiful servant, discovers, addresses, and mails one of the never-to-be-sent letters. Miranda is mortified. She is shocked when the duke answers her note with the a note of his own containing the simple words, “Do we know each other?” Her response and his answer leads to an informal courtship-by-mail.

 She’s conflicted by her growing feelings for two men. A duke she’s never met but whose insight and wisdom touches her heart, and a servant who she has come to depend on and respect. Two men from two divergent worlds.

When it becomes apparent that Marlow is not who he says he is, and that state secrets are at risk and Hawthorn House and Marlow are in the middle of a conspiracy, Miranda’s life is turned upside down.

I loved this book and there were times I laughed out loud.  I love the moment when Miranda finally meets the duke face to face after months of exchanging letters with him.

Well written with three-dimensional secondary characters who add conflict and depth to the story. This is a book I will be re-reading.